THE REACH OF WAR; Gates Says Arms Go to Taliban, But Iran's Role Is Not Certain

By MARK MAZZETTI

Published: June 5, 2007

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Monday that Iranian weapons were being smuggled into Afghanistan and into the hands of Taliban fighters, but that it was unclear whether Iran's government was behind the arms shipments.

But President Hamid Karzai, standing next to Mr. Gates after the two met at the presidential palace here, seemed little concerned about Iranian meddling in his country. He said relations between Iran and Afghanistan had ''never been as friendly as they are today.''

Mr. Gates's comments about the arms shipments echoed those made by top military commanders in recent weeks. American intelligence officials are trying to determine what role, if any, the Iranian government has had in arming the Taliban.

''There clearly is evidence that some weapons are coming into Afghanistan destined for the Taliban,'' Mr. Gates said. He also raised the possibility that drug smugglers or other criminal networks could be behind the flow of weapons.

American officials say that even as Iran pledges its support for the Karzai government, it is possible that it is trying to destabilize its neighbor to the east to tie down American forces in the country. American military officials have said they believe that a large part of the arms shipments has been material to make roadside bombs.

Afghanistan is dependent on Iran for economic development and reconstruction projects in the western part of the country, and Mr. Karzai was generous in his praise for Iran, saying, ''It is in the interest of our brothers in Iran to have a stable and prosperous Afghanistan.''

''We don't have any such evidence so far of the involvement of the Iranian government in support of the Taliban,'' he said.

Both men said they were optimistic that NATO-led combat operations since the beginning of the year had significantly impaired the Taliban's ability to carry out large-scale attacks and, in Mr. Gates's words, ''put them off their game.''

Gen. Bismullah Khan, the leader of the Afghan Army, told reporters after escorting Mr. Gates around a training camp on Monday that the United States had set a goal of having 70,000 equipped Afghan troops in place by the end of next year -- and having the force fully trained three years after that.

General Khan, a famous mujahedeen commander who helped defeat the Soviet Union in the 1980s, was asked whether an army of 70,000 was large enough to protect the country, especially with powerful neighbors like Iran and Pakistan.

He smiled and said that it was not large enough. But then he ended his answer with a phrase his interpreter said could best be summed up by a familiar English expression: ''Beggars can't be choosers.''